If Carroll is worth £35m, what is Cesc worth…?
865 comments February 9th, 2011
Hello all, and welcome to another interlull. It’s that time of the season when we go through the odd experience of seeing all our players done other colours and pretend to be friends with Frank Lampard. It’s painful but we have to endure it.
Fortunately, there’s a fair sprinkling of news to distract us from the international nonsense, as well as the ever-encroaching inescapability of mortality. You may have noticed some headlines about Barca and Cesc this morning. The deal (or no deal, perhaps) is thus.
Raul Sanehli, the Catalan club’s Director of Football, was asked about Fernando Torres’ recent move to Chelsea:
“It was overpriced. I know Barcelona would not do that signing. We would not even consider it.”
I take his point. £50m is a lot for any player.
But in a market where Darren Bent costs £24m, and Andy Carroll £35m, then Torres’ relative worth is about right. And if an injury prone forward with 9 goals so far this season is worth £50m, then what is a younger midfielder with the same amount of goals and added the capacity to manipulate an entire team’s dynamic from the centre-circle with his conductor’s baton of a right foot worth?
It’s almost impossible to say. To us, Cesc is priceless. Barca found that out when they came calling last summer: he simply wasn’t for sale.
If the Catalans consider £50m for Torres so unreasonable, then I can’t foresee any circumstances in which they’d be able to come up with the cash for Cesc.
There’s one club who could, of course, and The Sun put two and two together to make six with this story yesterday:
Absolute nonsense, of course.
There will be a lot more of this in the coming days, especially as the Barca game approaches. Whilst Barca say their interest is “dead”, I wouldn’t be surprised if their board members talk openly about their admiration for our skipper, like a desperate Blind Date contestant, only with less convoluted innuendos.
It’s worth pointing out at this juncture that whilst we’re discussing a £50m+ value for Cesc, he can be yours for a hell of a lot less. Order in the next couple of days and there’s every chance you’ll have your Cesc We Can shirt in time for the home leg with Barca. What better time to remind them that “We’ve got Cesc Fabregas?”
On to other matters.
England face Denmark tonight and it will be, like the Bendtner/Adebayor scrap at White Hart Lane, something of an Arsenal vs Arsenal affair.
Bendtner himself has made a few headlines for talking quite openly about his future:
“I have a lot of feelings for Arsenal and it means something great to me. I would be sad to leave it, but you have to think about yourself and, with the career goals I have, I cannot be sitting on the bench.
That’s the way it is. I will do my best for Arsenal throughout the season. Hopefully, I will be there next season as well, but we have to wait and see. But, if my situation at Arsenal doesn’t change, I will have to look at it because I want to play football.”
I don’t see anything wrong with these comments. He’s 23 now, and the next 4-7 years are going to define his career. He’s not the sort of guy who will be happy at being on the bench, and if, come the summer, he felt he had to move to get first team football I wouldn’t begrudge him that. In the meantime, however, he’s a useful and valued squad member. I think he’ll give John Terry a tough game tonight.
A lot of the focus in this match will be on Jack Wilshere. Fabio Capello is handing him his first England start in a deep midfield role – so deep that the Italian talked yesterday about Wilshere remaining almost with the centre-backs for large portions of the game. It’s a role he can play, though not one that gets the best out of his incisive attacking play.
Bendtner has warned England that there are lessons to be learnt from the handling of Theo Walcott, who will also start tonight. I think that’s undoubtedly true, though Wilshere seems an entirely different kettle of fish, with a more innate maturity and self-confidence. I think he’ll handle tonight just fine.
Finally, a bit of good news: Johan Djourou’s injury appears to be merely bruising. Any fears of serious damage to the knee have been dismissed by some positive scan results. He could be in contention for the weekend’s game with Wolves – or if not, then certainly Barca.
All together now: We’ve Got Cesc Fabregas…
